Responding to questions about whether the department needs to have in place a federal consent decree laying out new department training and use of force rules before Trump takes office in January, the mayor said "our commitment to reform will not change with the administration."

"We are on a journey of reform which we will not waver from," Emanuel said during an event at the police academy to talk about recruiting a more diverse pool of applicants to become police officers. "It is in the long term and short term and immediate term interests of the city."

Trump drew the endorsement of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, the national FOP and other law enforcement groups. That has led some to speculate the president-elect would halt or reverse the investigations into police department tactics and racial profiling that the Justice Department under President Barack Obama has made a priority around the country.

After the video showing McDonald being shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke was released in late 2015, Emanuel initially said that a proposed federal investigation of the Police Department was "misguided." He changed his position days later and said he welcomed the civil rights probe as protests roiled Chicago.

Emanuel has since been trying to walk the tightrope of attempting to prove to Chicagoans who distrust him that he wants meaningful reform in the department, while also convincing rank-and-file cops that he has their backs.

Thursday is the one-year anniversary of the release of the McDonald video, which a judge ordered after the Emanuel administration fought against it in court.

Though city attorneys had argued then that the video should not be released, the mayor on Tuesday said it helped spur important changes in the city.

"I look back at this and I say, look, it revealed a truth, and when you have a truth the best thing to do is to confront it and address it," he said as Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other department officials looked on.

Trump has said he is in favor of tougher police tactics like the controversial stop-and-frisk policy to deal with urban crime, often singling out Chicago while on the campaign trail. Stop-and-frisk was found unconstitutional by a federal judge in New York because of its overwhelming impact on minorities there.

"I think Chicago needs stop-and-frisk," Trump said at an event in September. "Now, people can criticize me for that or people can say whatever they want. But they asked me about Chicago and I think stop-and-frisk with good strong, you know, good strong law and order. But you have to do something. It can't continue the way it's going."